Anne Frank

Famous as

Writer

Born on

June 1929

Born in

Frankfurt am Main, Weimar Germany

Nationality

Germany

Anne frank was one of the million Jewish children who
died in the Holocaust. She was well-acclaimed for her style of writing
in her diary, which she wrote during the Nazi invasion period. Her diary
was later adapted into several plays and films. She was a German
national by birth till 1941 but
then she lost her nationality due to the anti-Semitic policies during
the Nazi Germany period (as per the Nuremberg Laws). Anne frank's family
initially stayed in Germany but they later moved to Amsterdam in 1933. She, along with her family, was trapped in Amsterdam
and they hid in Otto Frank's, office building until Anne Frank along
with her sister, Margot, was transferred to the Bergen-Belsen
concentration camp. Both Anne and her sister died of typhus in March
1945 in the concentration camp. The only remaining survivor of her
family, Otto Frank found her diary and took the initiative of publishing
it in 1947 in Netherlands. It was initially written in Dutch but later
published in English in 1952 with the title The Diary of a Young Girl.
In this book, she shared her experiences during her hideout owing to the
German invasion of the Netherlands at the time of World War II and she
is internationally acclaimed for this book.

Anne FrankChildhood and Education

Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany on 12th June, 1929. She
was born to father Otto Frank (1889–1980) and mother Edith
Frank-Holländer (1900–45). She was their second daughter while Margot
Frank (1926–45) was her elder sister. Her family was of Jewish origin
and they were liberal in their outlook. They did not follow the
conservative customs and traditions of Judaism. She was raised in mixed
community of Jewish and non-Jewish people of various religions. Edith
Frank was a dedicated mother, while her father, Otto Frank was more
interested in scholarly pursuits then his children’s upbringing. Otto
Frank had an extensive collection of books in the library. Both the
parents had one thing in common; both encouraged their children to read.

On 13th March 1933, the anti-Jewish National Socialist Party led by
Hitler came to power. The Jewish Frank family feared attack on them and
their children if they remained in Germany. Perceiving their children’s
future prospect, the same year, Edith along her children moved to
Aachen, to stay with her mother, Rosa Holländer for better security and
safety of her children. While father Otto Frank remained in Frankfurt
after receiving an offer to start a company in Amsterdam. He shifted
base there to organise a business and arrange for accommodations in his
family. The Frank family was among the 300,000 Jew families who fled
Germany between the period 1933 and 1939. In 1940 when Netherland was
invaded by Germany, it was no more a safe heaven for the Frank family.

Meanwhile, Otto Frank was working with the Opekta Works in Amsterdam and lived in an apartment on the Merwedeplein (Merwede Square) in Amsterdam. In February 1934, Edith along with her children came back to Amsterdam
and enrolled Margot in a public school and later Anne was admitted to a
Montessori school. While Margot showed aptitude in arithmetic, Anne
harbored more interest in literature. While Margot was well-mannered,
reserved, and studious, Anne was more of an outspoken, energetic and
extrovert person.

In 1938, Otto Frank started up a new company called Pectacon, which dealt in wholesale of herbs, salts and various spices, used for
making sausages. He then employed Hermann van Pels as an advisor on
spices. He was of Jewish origin and fled from Osnabrück in Germany with
his family. In 1939, Edith's mother started living with the Franks, and
remained with them until her death in January 1942.

In May 1940, when Germany invaded Netherlands, the Jewish people
were subjected to racial discriminatory laws. This law imposed a
restriction on all the Jewish children who were allowed to study in only
Jewish schools. Though both the sisters
were doing really well in their studies, the same rule was applicable
in the case of Frank sisters, who were later enrolled at the Jewish
Lyceum.

In April 1941, Otto Frank, in order to hide his Jewish origin action,
transferred the shares of Pectacon to Johannes Kleiman and resigned from
the position of director. The company and its assets were liquidated
and transferred to Gies and Company, headed by Jan Gies; he followed the
same steps to save his company Opekta in December 1941. This way he
could earn a moderate income and have a steady income flow.

Anne as Writer

On July 6, 1942 the family went into hiding in a secret
annex. They left a note saying that they were going to Switzerland in
order to mislead the Nazi’s. Though initially Anne saw hiding as an
adventurous and exciting activity but later she got restless and took to
writing for the next two years. She wrote in her personal diary which
she got as a gift on her 13th birthday. In her diary, she
wrote her daily experience during her days in the hiding. She kept the
diary a secret and didn’t disclose the contents of it to anyone in the
family. In her secret diary, she had expressed her desire to become a
journalist as written on Wednesday, 5 April 1944. She used to write
regularly until her final entry on August 1, 1944.

The Diary of a Young Girl

The secret diary of Anne Frank was later retrieved and found by Otto Frank, the only survivor in the Frank family. It was first published it in Netherlands by the name Het Achterhuis
in 1947. After receiving critical acclaim on publication, he attempted
to publish it in Germany and France in 1950 but it was rejected by many
publishers. It was later published it in the United Kingdom in 1952. The first American edition was published in 1952 which was titled Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.

Arrest

On 4th august, 1944, Frank family’s hideout in the Archterhuiswas raided by the German Security Police (Grüne Polizei).
Anne Frank, along with eight others, were then arrested from their
hiding and taken to the Punishment Barracks for hardship. It was
followed by long journeys to the concentration camps in Holland, Poland
and Germany. The only survivor among them was Otto Frank.

Death

Anne Frank died of typhus at the age of 15 in March 1945 in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, Lower Saxony, Nazi Germany.

Anne Frank Timeline:

1929- Anne was born in Frankfurt am Main, Weimar Germany

1933- The Frank family initially stayed in Germany but later moved to Amsterdam

1933- The anti-Jewish National Socialist Party led by Hitler came to power

1938- Otto Frank started up a new company called Pectacon

1939- Edith's mother started living with the Franks until her death 1942